


in deep and distant dreams

by mannelig



Series: Triad of Light [9]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, F/M, Implied Body Horror, Weddings, shb spoilers, some sexual language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29802537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mannelig/pseuds/mannelig
Summary: “Have you seen Len?”A wedding night slightly interrupted.
Relationships: Haurchefant Greystone/Warrior of Light
Series: Triad of Light [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1962124
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	in deep and distant dreams

“Have you seen Len?”

Ceri appears at his elbow as suddenly as a fairy popping out of a bush, and it’s all Haurchefant can do not to visibly startle. The Ishgardian noble he’s been talking to has no such luck, and nearly spills their champagne.

“I believe she was talking to Vidofnir,” Haurchefant says slowly, taking in Ceri’s pointedly blank countenance, “but allow me to find her for you.”

She smiles, that eerie blankness disappearing like mist in the sun. “Thank you.”

As she drifts away, Haurchefant turns back to his wedding guest and excuses himself, then heads for the stairs. He suspects he knows why Ceri had alerted him to Len’s absence, and if he’s right, he knows exactly where to go.

When he opens the door there are no muffled sobs, no silent tears.

Len is quietly perched on the bed in his old room, staring down at her light-scarred hands, and doesn’t look up when he enters. “Are you alright, my love?” Haurchefant asks, gently closing the door behind him.

“I thought-” she begins, then swallows hard and clenches her fists. “I thought I saw it growing, again.”

Haurchefant sinks onto the bed beside her. “May I?” he asks, holding his hand out, and after a moment’s hesitation, she places her small hands in his. Dutifully, he inspects the scarring for any changes, running his fingers over it gently. It disrupts the normal bumpy, ridged patterns of her scales with its unnatural, pearly smoothness, and he wishes that his hands could wipe it away. “Well,” he says instead, “I am happy to report that it has not, but I suspect there is more that troubles you.”

Her hands tense, then relax as she lets out a breath. “Haurchefant,” she croaks, “this is real, right? I’m not going to wake up tomorrow morning back on the First?”

Gently gathering her in his arms, he presses a kiss to her forehead and promises, “No, Len. Tomorrow, if I have my way, you are going to wake up in our bedroom, in our home, with my tongue inside you.”

She lets out a little snort, fingers curling in his shirt. “And if you don’t have your way?”

“Then you will wake up before me, and you will find yourself safe in my arms.”

A thoughtful silence. Then, “I dreamed of this day so much, those last days before we fought Emet-Selch. I didn’t think I’d live to see it. Then figuring out how to get you all home, and now that it’s here, and we did it, I just feel so - so _overwhelmed_ .” Len buries her face in his chest, mindful of her horns as ever, and curls her tail around his arm. "I wore these colors in - in _defiance_ of what I almost became, but-"

“I understand,” Haurchefant says, softly. Some nights he finds himself pacing again, retracing his steps from those horrible days when she was so full of Light she could hardly breathe. During the wedding ceremony he’d dug his nails into his palm so hard they’d cut through his gloves because he’d been terrified of the same thing she was now; that he’d wake up and it would all have been a dream. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I… don’t know.”

He suspects he knows something that might, a little. “Why don’t we go home?”

Len lifts her head and blinks at him. “We can do that?”

“Of course,” Haurchefant says, smiling warmly. “Even if it wasn’t common for a married couple to retire early from the party, who would dare stop us?”

A smile spreads across her face, and he can’t help leaning in to capture it with his lips. Len drapes her arms over his shoulders and kisses him back, sighing softly, and Haurchefant stands, lifting her easily.

“Shall we?” he murmurs, and she nods.

“Let’s go home,” she whispers.


End file.
